Indentured identities : resistance and accommodation in plantation-era Fiji / Farzana Gounder.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Gounder, Farzana.

Series:

Studies in narrative ; v. 15.

Studies in narrative (SiN), 1568-2706 ; v. 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

East Indians--Fiji--Social conditions.

East Indians.

Indentured servants--Fiji--Interviews.

Indentured servants.

Discourse analysis, Narrative.

Indentured servants--Fiji--Biography.

Fiji Hindi language.

Fiji--Emigration and immigration.

Fiji.

India--Emigration and immigration.

India.

Fiji--Race relations--Political aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 345 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The book explores the historical dimension of Indian indenture from within the lived experience of laborers, who emigrated to Fiji from colonial India a century ago. As these laborers are no longer alive, one could argue that the experience of indenture is no longer accessible, if there had not been recordings of the laborers' life narratives. It is seven of these audio recordings, made for public broadcast, which form the data for a fine-grained language-analysis to unearth the life-world of indenture. Through the merging of Labov's high-point analysis with Bamberg's posit

Contents:

Indentured Identities; Editorial page; Title page; LCC data; Dedication page; Table of contents; Acknowledgements; Shards of memories; List of figures, maps, pictures, tables; Gloss; Getting acquainted with the Girmityas; 1.1 The Girmit narrators; 1.2 The language of the life narratives; 1.3 Researching Girmit with the Girmityas; 1.4 The research; 1.5 The co-construction of Girmit; Gabriel Aiyappa's Girmit; 2.1 Fiji's call for Girmityas; 2.2 Girmit across the kala pani; 2.3 Social structure and its problems on the Girmit plantations; 2.4 And after; 2.5 Summary and discussion

Behind the scenes of Girmit Gatha; 3.1 Girmit Gatha; 3.2 Interviewees; 3.3 Interviewers; 3.4 The interview; 3.5 Strengths of Girmit Gatha as data; 3.6 Limitations of the Girmit Gatha life narratives; 3.7 Summary and discussion; Transposing the oral into written; 4.1 The process as a whole; 4.2 Transcribing; 4.3 Transcriptional symbols; 4.4 Transliterating; 4.5 Translating; 4.6 Summary and discussion; Ram Rattan Mishar's life narrative construction; 5.1 Differentiating components by focus; 5.2 Differentiating components by structure; 5.3 Causal chain

5.4 Ram Rattan Mishar's well-formed narrative; Abstract; Orientation; Character orientation; Complicating action; Resolution; Evaluation; Coda; 5.5 Ghori and Guldhari's habitual narratives; 5.6 Sequencing of incidents in the life narrative; 5.7 Summary and discussion; Ram Rattan Mishar's identity and agency reconstructions; 6.1 Positioning analysis; 6.2 Levels of positioning analysis; 6.3 Merging Labov with Bamberg; Level 1; Level 2; Level 3; 6.4 Summary and discussion; Restorying Girmit; Guldhari Maharaj; 7.1 Descriptive abstract: How it was; 7.2 Structure

7.3 Descriptive complicating action Part 1: In the lines; 7.4 Descriptive complicating action Part 2: On the plantation; 7.5 Descriptive resolution: Pay day; 7.6 Descriptive Coda: But they survived; 7.7 Summary and discussion; Ram Sundar Maharaj; 8.1 Structure; Part 1; 8.2 Abstract of life narrative; 8.3 Event narrative: The reason we came to Fiji; Orientation; Complicating action and resolution; 8.4 Orientation 1: We served Girmit for five years; 8.5 Habitual narrative 1: The work we had to do; Descriptive abstract; Descriptive complicating action; 8.6 Orientation 2: Where is Bachkanya?

Part 28.7 Habitual narrative 2: There was a sense of community; Descriptive abstract; Descriptive complicating action; Descriptive resolution; Descriptive coda; 8.8 Summary and discussion; Jasoda Ramdin; 9.1 Structure; 9.2 Event Narrative 1: The first day; Abstract; Orientation; Event sub-narrative 1a: In the lines; Event Sub-narrative 1b: On the plantation; Event sub-narrative 1c: Back in the lines; Coda; 9.3 Event Narrative 2: I was hit; Abstract; Complicating action; Resolution; Coda; 9.4 Event Narrative 3: She was beaten; Abstract; Complicating action; 9.5 Habitual narrative: The consequences of a failed resistance

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Thesis Ph. D. Massey University, Palmerston North, 2011.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613359919

9781283359917

128335991X

9789027282163

9027282161

OCLC:

767503048